The Albanese Labor Government is listening to industry and working with state and territory governments to address Australia’s housing crisis together.
Last Friday, the Minister for Housing, Homelessness and Cities Clare O’Neil hosted an industry roundtable, and launched a $39.3 million program at Parliament House to support the uptake of Modern Methods of Construction.
Through the Advancing Prefabricated and Modular Construction program, all states and the Australian Capital Territory signed up to develop and promote the use of building components that can be manufactured off‑site and assembled on‑site.
The Kit‑of‑Parts approach helps create more repeatable and coordinated systems that can support quality housing delivery at a greater scale. At the Industry roundtable, the Minister outlined Government’s broader work to support greater productivity in housing construction.
A ‘Kit of Parts’ is a catalogue of standard, pre‑approved building components – such as wall panels, floors and bathroom pods – that can be made in a factory and put together on site. Builders can combine these parts to suit different homes, without having to design every component from scratch.
It means parts of a home can be manufactured while foundations and other work happen on site, helping homes get built faster. Using proven designs repeatedly can also reduce waste, keep costs down and make quality easier to check – while still allowing a mix of home sizes and layouts.
The participants, including ministers from state and territory governments and representatives from super funds, financial firms, modular housing manufacturers and construction companies discussed the use of modern methods to build more homes more quickly.
The Minister notes collaboration with industry and state and territory government is vital to solving the housing crisis. This roundtable is part of the Government’s broader work to support greater productivity in housing construction through modern methods, including:
- $135 million for Construction Centres of Excellence with the Victorian, New South Wales and Queensland governments, building the skills and capability needed to adopt modern construction methods and emerging technologies.
- $120 million from the National Productivity Fund to help states and territories put modern construction methods on an equal regulatory footing with traditional building methods.
- $120 million through the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation in Built Living to establish an advanced housing manufacturing facility in Western Australia, using modern construction methods and automation to deliver apartments faster and at scale.
- $40 million for a national ‘Kit of Parts’ program to develop a pre‑approved catalogue of building components that can be manufactured off‑site and assembled on‑site, helping speed up housing delivery.
- $4 million for a voluntary national certification scheme to make it simpler and faster to approve prefabricated housing under the National Construction Code.
The Albanese Labor Government has a $47 billion agenda to build more homes, faster. That’s why we are listening to industry and collaborating with states and territory governments to spur building productivity together.
Quotes attributable to the Minister for Housing, Homelessness and Cities, Clare O’Neil
“We’ve got a massive partnership with state governments to build more homes, more quickly. And they’re coming with us as we change the way our country builds homes.
“This is one of those innovations where, once you see it done properly, you wonder why we haven’t always built homes this way.”
Quotes attributable to the CEO of Building 4.0 CRC, Prof Mathew Aitchison
“The National Housing Platform is different to other approaches because it brings the whole housing delivery system together. It connects governments, industry and research around shared designs, systems, supply chains and capability, creating a common foundation that can be applied in different conditions across Australia.
“The simplest way to explain it is: standard parts, not standard homes. We can make more of the underlying components and processes repeatable, helping to lower costs, without telling architects, governments or communities that every home has to look the same.
“For me, success will be when this moves beyond individual demonstrations and becomes practical capability that governments and Australian industry are freely adopting. That means better coordination between designers, manufacturers, builders and governments, backed by evidence about what actually works.”